# Beauty Industry: Who Owns What?



## mehrunissa (Jun 2, 2007)

Aside from recognizing that they're all beauty brands, you probably don't often link Kiehl's, Maybelline and La Roche-Posay. Or Olay, Covergirl and SK-II. Or La Mer, MAC and Clinique. Each of these brands has a very clear, unique identity that is defined by what kind of products they make, where they're sold, how they're priced, what kind of person buys them, how they're packaged, and a number of other factors.

But that's only because the marketers behind these major brands have been so successful in conditioning consumers to think about the brand in these terms. What we're encouraged to ignore is that each of these brand groupings is owned by the same corporation. Kiehl's, Maybelline and La Roche-Posay couldn't be more different brands, but they're all owned and produced by L'Oreal. Same goes for Olay, Covergirl and SK-II, all Proctor &amp; Gamble brands. And if you thought that Estee Lauder was only a department store makeup brand, you might be surprised to learn that the company owns 27 beauty brands, including La Mer, MAC and Clinique.

The beauty industry is dominated by a few key players, all multi-billion dollar corporations with ownership over multiple major brands. Here's how it breaks down:

*L'Oreal: *2005 revenues of $19.78 billion U.S. dollars. Only owns cosmetics, haircare and fragrance brands (29 in total).

Brands: *KÃ©rastase, L'OrÃ©al Professionnel, L'OrÃ©al Technique, Matrix, Mizani, Redken, L'OrÃ©al Paris, Garnier, Maybelline New York, SoftSheen-Carson, Biotherm, The Body Shop, Cacharel, Diesel Perfumes, Giorgio Armani Parfums and Cosmetics, Guy Laroche, Helena Rubinstein, Kiehl's, LancÃ´me, Paloma Picasso, Ralph Lauren, Shu Uemura, Victor et Rolf parfum, Dermablend, La Roche-Posay, SkinCeuticals, Vichy Laboratoires, InnÃ©ov, Ombrelle.*

*Proctor &amp; Gamble: *2006 revenues of $68.222 billion U.S. dollars (this includes all brands). Beauty sales alone equaled $21.1 billion. P&amp;G sells many different kinds of consumer products (their brands range from Tide to Gillette to Pampers to Iams to Tampax and many, many more). You can read the entire listhere

Beauty brands:* Gillette, Head &amp; Shoulders, Olay, Pantene, Wella, Aussie, Clairol, CoverGirl, Herbal Essences, Infusium 23, Ivory Soap, Max Factor, Natural Instincts, Nice'n Easy, Noxzema, Secret, SK-II, Vidal Sassoon.*

*Estee Lauder: *2006 revenues of $6.746 billion U.S. dollars. Only sells cosmetics, haircare and fragrance products.

Brands: *American Beauty, Aramis, Aveda, Bobbi Brown, Bumble and bumble,** Clinique, Daisy Fuentes, Darphin, Donald Trump The Fragrance, Donna Karan, EstÃ©e Lauder, Flirt!, Good Skin, Grassroots, Jo Malone, Lab Series, La Mer, Kiton, MAC Cosmetics, Michael Kors, MISSONI, Origins, Prescriptives, Rodan and Fields, Sean John, Tommy Hilfiger, Coach Fragrances.*

*Unilever:* 2006 revenus of $53.97 billion U.S. dollars. Sells food, beverage, cleaning and personal care consumer products.

Beauty brands:* Caress, Degree, Dove, Lever 2000, Pond's, Suave, Sunsilk, Vaseline.*

*Johnson &amp; Johnson:* 2006 revenues of $53 billion U.S. dollars. Manufactures consumer packaged goods, pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

Beauty brands: *Aveeno, Clean and Clear, Neutrogena.*

*Avon:* 2006 revenues of $8.1 billion U.S. dollars. Sells cosmetics, fragrances and some clothing and jewelry.

Beauty brands: *Avon Color, Anew and Solutions, Skin So Soft and Naturals, Avon Fragrances, mark.*

Certainly there are other important corporations that stand alone, such as Revlon (2006 revenues of $1.33 billion). But when you consider just how many brands are controlled by a few companies, it's pretty mindboggling.

So what good is this information and how does it useful to you as a consumer?

I've always argued that the more you know about beauty products and the beauty industry, the smarter your purchases will be. When you consider that the huge team of people doing research and development for L'Oreal are developing formulas that can be used in Garnier shampoo ($3.99) and Kerastase shampoo ($29.99), you realize that it's a good idea to start comparing products at different price points. Often two products from two different brands will have the same patent number (Pantene and Herbal Essence conditioners, for example). The difference is in the non-active ingredients, which give it a unique texture, scent, color, etc.

To double check on this, I e-mailed my two favorite cosmetics scientists, The Beauty Brains. They said that major companies (like the ones I've listed above) often save money by using the same formulas in multiple brands, which allows them to get price breaks on raw materials. Sometimes companies will use more expensive or better active ingredients in their luxury brands (the fact that they're active ingredients is key... they can spend all the money they want on fancy extracts and organic ingredients, but they won't make a difference in how the product works), but the truth is that more expensive formulas do not cost companies much more to create.

The price comes from the fact that you expect to pay a high price for a luxury brand. Don't you often automatically assume that a gorgeous bottle of $60 eye cream sold at a Saks counter is going to work better than the $1.99 tube on the clearance rack at CVS? It's all psychological.

So before you go and splurge on an expensive product, take the time to compare it to a similar product from one of their sister brands. Usually an online store (like Drugstore.com ) will list the ingredients. You can then check out a site like The Beauty Brains or cosmetics cop Paula's Begoun, who has an ingredient dictionary and reviews of products. Makeup Alley is also a great resource, as you can read tons of reviews or ask questions to the extremely knowledgeable message board posters.

SOURCE: *Faking Good Breeding*


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## kittenmittens (Jun 2, 2007)

thanks for posting!

it's crazy how much L'Oreal owns - they're taking over the world!


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## estherika (Jun 2, 2007)

very interesting article. thanks for posting!


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## GuessWho (Jun 2, 2007)

Interesting info...thanks for posting


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## luxotika (Jun 3, 2007)

Thanks for posting!


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## brewgrl (Jun 3, 2007)

kenzo, dior, guerlain, benefit, sephora, make up forever: all owned by luis vuitton moet hennessy

i love that.


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## StrangerNMist (Jul 2, 2007)

Interesting stuff. I would to invest in some stock and get a piece of that great big pie! Yummay!


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## La_Mari (Jul 28, 2007)

Good info! I really like knowing this kind of stuff.


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## nad4321 (Aug 1, 2007)

i didn't know l'oreal owned karastase


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## Noonz (Aug 6, 2007)

Good info ,thanx


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## clwkerric (Aug 6, 2007)

Very interesting... thanks for posting.


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## stefawn (Aug 19, 2007)

Wow! this is very informative for me as a beauty professional! I knew that the brands were formulated by the same companies, but i had never done any research as to what made them different or the same. I have tried many products in my salon, and have found that a lot of the cheaper priced brands work just as good or better in some cases. We are trained in the industry that the "higher name professional" brand products(which are products only sold to professionals, not the general public) are so much better, but that's just not the case. For instance, I have had trouble finding a color with ultimate gray coverage that doesn't fade in products such as Redken color, Matrix color etc.(only available in professional only stores), but the best gray coverage with no fading I have found is in the Clairol Gray Busters(availble to anyone @ Sally's)! thanks for this great information!!


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## SqueeKee (Aug 19, 2007)

Holy! That's very cool to know. I'm going to forward this on to a few friends!


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## zoe__ (Aug 21, 2007)

thanks for posting, isnt l'oreal owned by LVMH?


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## mrym (Aug 21, 2007)

hy thanx 4 this infromation

gfhfghghghmghggggggggggggggggg

i love all that u told us


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## fnazo (Sep 23, 2007)

interesting article! thanksss


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## Vixen (Jan 19, 2008)

very helpful! i didn't know all these things!


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## nyxxx (Jan 25, 2008)

Wow. That is crazy. I had no idea L'Oreal owned The Body Shop. Very interesting stuff!


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## Linkinpark9503 (Jan 29, 2008)

there is a huge difference between professional shampoo/conditioner and proctor&amp;gamble or Unilever shampoo/conditioner...


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## SmearedMascara (Jan 30, 2008)

Very nice nice article indeed! I save this for later reference!


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## Honest Beauty (Feb 18, 2011)

Interesting information however, I must correct you at the end.  Yes, it is true that most cosmetic companies putting out these toxic products play games and cheat on formulations and know consumers expect to pay more for "luxury" products.

However, we need to be specific in what kind of products we are talking about and what we expect to pay vs what the real cost of manufacturing are.

True, these so called luxury brands laden with synthetic ingredients do not cost more than their not so luxury cousins, companies are thieves and just charge more...thanks to deceptive marketing and consumer brainwashing over years and years.

However, this does not apply to true natural products that perform, which there are few such brands on the market.  Authentic natural products that actually deliver on their promise truly costs more to make because raw ingredients are much higher.  In fact, the cost is significantly higher when pure high grade ingredients are used.  I often educate consumers on this and also how to use it as a guide in weeding out false natural products from those that are real, cost can speak volumes.

A great example of this is the Intelligent Nutrients line by the same creator of Aveda.  For those who are savvy, these are not true natural products NOR do they perform.  However, Horst with all his fancy and clever marketing has mastered deception as well. 

I am glad to see that consumers are getting tired of paying for promises that are not delivered on and more so, that many are taking the time to get educated because everyone has been lying to us for too long.  By letting everyone in on who owns what, they can stop supporting all brands that belong to the same family of ownership!


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## katana (Feb 19, 2011)

Great information in this post, thanks so much for sharing!


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## NotAVampireLvr (Jun 13, 2011)

Bumping up a really interesting article!  /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> I had NO idea!


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## KENTAYLOR79 (Jul 23, 2011)

I AM A HAIR PROFESSIONAL OF 26 YEARS.  I RECENTLY DISCOVERED ALL OF THE PROFESSIONAL LINES I USE AND RETAIL ARE OWNED BY LOREAL, A GROCERY STORE LINE.  NOT ONLY THIS BUT THEY ARE ALL TESTED ON ANIMALS.  I FEEL DISGUSTED AND BETRAYED THAT ALL THE INFORMATION I HAVE BEEN GIVEN HAS BEEN A LIE! THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IN THESE PRODUCTS ARE THE SMELL AND TEXTURE.  ITS A LITTLE LATE IN THE GAME TO CHANGE MY CAREER BUT I FEEL LIKE A HIPOCRIT BEING AGAINST ANIMAL CRUELTY AND SELLING THESE PRODUCTS AT THE SAME TIME.  SORRY.


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## 13Bluestar97 (Aug 9, 2011)

*Prints out article* Whoa. O.O L'Oreal owns a ton yet they didn't make the most money!


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## Elizabethhh (Mar 12, 2013)

It seems like LOreal has most effective marketing strategy. They like to extend their market all over the world as well as bring variety in their products.


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## Maya Savanovich (Jun 5, 2013)

Interesting and informative. Thank you for posting this article.


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## Petson (Nov 13, 2013)

Thanks for the info and let me tell you that I love beautiful things and it pulled me to be on our site, especially i love perfumes different kinds of perfumes and I also have my own collections which I would like to share with you.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Aroma Chemicals


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## gexton71 (Jan 16, 2014)

Wow, this is really awesome to know... Thanks for your research!


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## mashan (Mar 19, 2014)

There are 4 major beauty conglomerates in the world. L'Oreal, LVMH, Estee Lauder and Shiseido.

I've attached lists of brands owned by these companies if you are interested, ladies. 

EstÃ©e Lauder has a total of 27 brands which include:


American Beauty 
Aramis
Aveda
Bobbi Brown
Bumble and bumble
Clinique
Coach
Daisy Fuentes (divested)
Darphin
Donald Trump The Fragrance (discontinued)
Donna Karan
 
EstÃ©e Lauder 
Flirt!
Good Skin
Grassroots
Jo Malone
Kate Spade (divested)
Kiton
Knowing
Lab Series
La Mer
MÂ·AÂ·C
Marni
Michael Kors
 
Missoni 
Ojon
Origins
Prescriptives (as of January 31, 2010, available only on-line)
Sean John Fragrances (divested)
Smashbox Cosmetics[13]
Stila (sold)
Tommy Hilfiger
Tom Ford Beauty
Tory Burch (launching in October 2013)
Ermenegildo Zegna
 
Shiseido brands:

      -   Aupres is a line of prestige cosmetics and skincare products made and sold exclusively in China.


Ayura
Bare Escentuals
BeautÃ© Prestige International, based in Paris, France, produces perfumes under the Jean-Paul Gaultier, Issey Miyake, and Narciso Rodriguez brands. It also distributes fragrances and men's skincare under the John Varvatosbrand.
ClÃ© de Peau offers skincare, makeup and bodycare. The most popular item from Cle de peau is the concealer, along with ClÃ© de Peau BeautÃ©.[18]
d-program offers full range of skincare and makeup for sensitive skin.
Aqualabel
Za
IPSA
ISO Hair
Joico
NARS Cosmetics
Qiora
Revital, line targeting women in their 30s-40s
Senscience
Serge Lutens
UNO, line for men.
UV White
Zotos International

LVMH brands:


10 Cane 
Ardbeg
Belvedere
ChÃ¢teau d'Yquem
Dom PÃ©rignon
Domaine Chandon California
Hennessy
Glenmorangie
Krug
Mercier
MoÃ«t &amp; Chandon
Ruinart
Veuve Clicquot
 Fashion and Leather Goods


Berluti 
CÃ©line
Dior
Donna Karan
EDUN
Emilio Pucci
Fendi
Givenchy
Kenzo
Marc Jacobs
Moynat
Loewe
Loro Piana
Louis Vuitton
Nicholas Kirkwood
Thomas Pink
R. M. Williams
 Perfumes and Cosmetics


Acqua di Parma 
Benefit Cosmetics
Guerlain
Make Up For Ever
Parfums Christian Dior
Watches and Jewelry


Bulgari 
Chaumet
De Beers Diamond Jewellers
FRED
Hublot
TAG Heuer
Zenith
Specialist retailing


DFS 
Le Bon MarchÃ©
Sephora
 
Indeed,

You never know how big these umbrella companies are until you start researching.


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